Automatic furnace-stoker.



E. REES.

AUTOMATIC FURNACE STOKER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT 23. 1915- Patent-ed Apr. 25, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

E. REES.

AUTOMATIC FURNACE STOKER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 23, 1915.

Patented Apr. 25,1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- ELIAS REES, 01E DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

AUTOIFATIC FURNACE-STICKER.

Application filed October 23, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that l, ELIAS REES, who am acitizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, county of Wayne,State of Michigan, hai e invented a certain new and useful Improvementin Automatic Furnace-Stokers, and declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part ofthis specification.

This invention relates to automatic furnace stokers and has for itsobject oscillating devices within the furnace itself, which are not onlyadapted to progressively carry the burning coal from the front to therear of the furnace, but also act as twyers to provide the air forcombustion. The mechanism' which oscillates these devices also serves tooscillate an additional apparatus for forcing the ashes and clinkers toa point where they may be easily removed. These general statements ofthe nature of the invention will be more readily understood after thedetailed description which follows has been read. y

In the drawings,-Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of afurnace showing in elevation the fuel shifting apparatus located in thefurnace and in the feed hopper. Fig. 2 is a front view of the boilershowing at the left hand the attachments thereto in elevation and at theright hand showing the hopper and the coal shifting devices on thesection line BB of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section ofone of the fuel shifting devices showing how the twyer cross sectionthrough one fuel shifting de-' vice and air duct and more particularly asection taken on the line (l-C of Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a detail of theupper end of-the connecting rod whose lower end carries the eccentricstrap.

The boiler is designated a, the furnace b,

the feed hopper d, (Fig. 1). Coal can be Specification of LettersPatent.-

Patented Apr. 25, JIL'ZHHUE.

Serial No. 57,389.

as four in number and they are designated t...

LOne bar is provided with downwardly-pro- ]ecting teeth of a rack u (seeFig. 3) while the next adjacent bar isprovided with upwardly-projectingteeth of a rack '12 (see Fig. l

4). A cross shaft w (see Fig. 5) is provided with a plurality of pinionsm which mesh with these two differently disposed racks. It will, ofcourse, be understood that by reason of the location of some of theracks above and somebelow the pinions the two groups of the bars will beoscillated at any given time in opposite directions. This cross shaft wis a rocking shaft. The rocking is imparted to it by a rocker arm 3/(Fig. 1) which is connected by a screw and nut adjustable connection 2(detailed in Fig. 7) to the connecting rod 1 which at the other end isprovided with an eccentric strap 2 which engages around the eccentric 3on the drive shaft q.

Rollers 4, 4 are provided in the furnace for supporting the shiftingbars and allowing their sliding movement. The open tops of the channeledlower portions of these shifting bars are covered with a plurality ofcastings which form caps similar in general arrangement to ratchetteeth. Each casting comprises three cap formations or ratchet teeth 5.These cap formations are hollow and form twyer caps while the block 20is solid and adapted to receive a screw bolt (Fig. 3) by which it may bebolted into its seat in the shifting bar 25, that seat comprising anotch 6. The sides of the twyer caps of the castings are grooved toslide (the notch 6 allowing thev castings 5 to be started onto thetracks) in the inwardly projecting flanges 7, (Fig. 5) of the shiftingbars, these flanges forming tracks upon which the grooved twyer capportions may he slid. The purpose of this kind of an assembly is toallow the disassembling of the twyer caps to replace those that maybecome broken or burnt out.

Another feature is that one shifting bar can be removed to replace acasting without stopping the operation of the furnace. The pinion asbeing slidable on the shaft 20, may be driven to one side on the rockshaft '20, the barslid toward the rear of the furnace and then the frontend of the bar raised until level with the door 21. Where the bar is oneof those with the upwardly directed teeth, the yoke-like rack will haveto be first removed from the bar. The whole bar may .then be drawn outand the worn out or broken casting replaced and the bar reinserted.

It will be noted that the shifting bars are I hollow and in connectionwith the caps 5 form tubes which serve -as air ducts. The hollowshifting bars extend to the front of the .feed hoppers d and into theair boxes 8 which are open at the bottom for the entry of air. Theconsequence of this arrangement is that the air is drawn into the airboxes, into the hollow shifting bars or air ducts and is deliveredthrough the twyer caps which have openings 9 (Fig. 6) at the front ofthe caps or teeth. It is advantageous to have these twyer openings atthe front of the teeth and on the vertical wall of the same for it isapparent that they will be kept much freer than would be the case ifthey were horizontally disposed where the ashes and clinkers and burningcoal would fall upon them. They are also directed in the direction ofthe draft through the furnace. When these shifting bars and air ductsare vibrated the fuel will be shaken forward on the gradually slopingbacks of the ratchet teeth but it cannot travel backward on account ofthsteep fronts of the ratchet teeth or' caps. The result is that it ismade to gradually travel forward in the furnace until, it reaches theback of the same adjacent the bridge wall 10 that leads into thecombustion chamber. By this time practically all the combustibleproducts have been taken out of the fuel and it drops from the end ofthe vibrating bars in the form of ash or clinkers onto the ash andclinker propeller 11. This comprises a ratchet tooth block in the formof the segment of a' cylinder which extends clear across the furnace atits rear. This is oscillated by a connecting rod 12 which runs to thefront of the furnace where it connects with a depending rocker arm 13that is fixed on the cross rocker shaft w (see Fig. 2). This ash andclinker propeller serves to propel theash and'clinkers down thegradually sloping ash and clinker slide-way 14 which brings the ashes tothe forward end of'the furnace where they may be easily taken out. Belowthe shifting bars 25 and above the ash and clinker slide-way 14 arelocated a pair of swinging air gates 15, the purpose of which is toprevent the air being drawn under the shifting bars through the ashchamber and thereby checking the draft through the fuel. These swingingair gates,

at the rear end of said bars and comprising an oscillated segment of acylinder provided with teeth for propelling the ashes and clinkers downthe slide-way.

2. In an automatic stoker, the combination of a plurality ofvibratoryhollow bars provided with notches and provided at the tops within-turned flanges forming tracks at the top, and castings forming one ormore sets of twyer caps, having grooved sides adapted to slide into theflanges of the hollow bars, and blocks for fitting into notches of thebars to hold the assembled twyer caps.

3. In an automatic stoker, the combination of a furnace chamber, a feedhopper secured to the front thereof, an air box secured to said feed11013138133. door in said feed hopper, a plurality of oscillatory gratebars, and disconnectible driving connections for oscillating saidplurality of grate bars, whereby the grate bar or grate bars may bedisconnected from the driving connections and taken out of the furnacethrough the doorin the hopper for repair.

4. In an automatic stoker, the combination of a plurality of oscillatorygrate bars, means for supporting the same to allow them to oscillate,the said grate bars being provided alternately with oppositely facingracks, and a cross shaft having a rocking movement and provided with aplurality of pinions which mesh with the oppositely faced racks to givethe grate bars opposite movements at a given moment.

5. In an automatic stoker, the combination of a plurality of grate bars,bearings therefor to allow oscillation of the grate bars, said gratebars being provided alternately with oppositely faced racks, a crossshaft arranged to rock, a plurality of pinions on the cross shaftengaging with the oppositely faced racks, a rocker arm secured to saidcross shaft, and a connecting rod for oscillating the rock shaft, havingan adjustable connection lengthwise of the rock arm to alter the arc ofrocking movement of the cross shaft.

the furnace chamber and at the end of the front to rear, an ashslide-Way sloping downwardly from rear to front and under the 13 saidgrate bars, an ash propeller located'at the rear of said ash slide-Wayand at the rear of said grate bars, and one or more air gatescooperating with the ash slide-Way to allow passage of the ashes to thefront but closing when force is exerted on the front of said air gate orgates.

In testimony Whereof, I sign this specification.

ELIAS REES.

